‘I really hope this book will be read by northerners’

Crystal Gail Fraser, a Gwichyà Gwich’in historian and Indigenous studies scholar, has launched a book studying colonialism and residential schools in the Mackenzie Delta.

Fraser spent the past week attending unveilings of the book – By Strength, We Are Still Here – in Tsiigehtchic, Inuvik and Yellowknife.

The book examines Inuvik residential schools Grollier Hall and Stringer Hall. A chapter looks at earlier institutions in Aklavik.

“It’s really designed to focus on how our relatives responded to the system, how parents continued to be really strong advocates for their children, and how children coped with the institutionalization,” Fraser said.

Fraser said writing the book became a way for her to “respond to a need to better understand our own history.” She said anthropologist Alestine Andre, her cousin, encouraged her to do so.

“I saw things happening in the community like language revitalization, like conversations about our modern treaty, about self governance,” she said, “but also really questions about devastation, about the untimely loss of people in our nation, about addiction. I was seeking answers to some of those questions.”

Speaking with residential school survivors showed their remarkable strength, Fraser said, which she saw in both the resilience of the children who were institutionalized as well as the parents who were forced to let them go.

“Not every child made it back and everyone is still on their own healing paths,” she said.

“What I really hope is that this book will first be read by northerners who are embedded in these histories – not only survivors and their families, but also settler Canadians, because they have a role to play in this whole story.”

Elders John Norbert, Peter Ross and James Andre spoke at the Tsiigehtchic event, which was sponsored by the Gwichya Gwich’in Council.

In Inuvik, Mary Tera, Robert Charlie and Ruth Wright formed a survivors’ panel to share their stories with an audience of roughly 100 people. The Gwich’in Tribal Council provided a bus to help Elders travel to the event from Fort McPherson.

“I’m just very aware that residential schools can be a hard topic, particularly before Christmas. It can be a hard time for folks,” Fraser said.

“This is definitely something that we need to keep talking about, but we can also do it in ways that we can take care of ourselves as we do it.”